Different Ways of Healing
by InTheCompanyOfDragons
Summary: Caleb Reaves runs into a familiar face when waiting in a hospital for John to recover from surgery. Brotherhood AU Do not own any of the characters in this story. Supernatural belong to Kripke, The CW, and company. Brotherhood universe belongs to Ridley, thank you for letting me play in your sandbox. Rated T for Swearing Please Comment! Positive criticism welcome.


Brotherhood AU

Do not own any of the characters in this story.

Supernatural belong to Kripke, The CW, and company.

Brotherhood universe belongs to Ridley, thank you for letting me play in your sandbox.

A Stanford era story.

I reference "The Dragons in this story." They are mentioned in many of Ridleys stories including The Edge of Winter, and The Long Way Back and In The Company of Dragons check these stories out, they are amazing.

Healing

Caleb Reaves was on his 5th cup of coffee, but the caffeine wasn't helping him stay awake. He was getting sick of waiting for the doctor to come and tell him what was going on. It should have been a simple hunt, just a salt and burn. John Winchester had planned this crappy hunt, claiming that Caleb had been spending too much time burying himself in Tricorp, and not enough time hunting. John had no time for chasing normal and as far as he was concerned everyone under his command shouldn't have time for that world either. Caleb was grateful he had Mac, his father thought it was best to balance both worlds, and against the Knights protests, made Caleb go to college, and start a business. John was the opposite, and this stubbornness lead his youngest, Sam Winchester to leave over a year ago. Sam was told not to come back, and he hadn't. Caleb was angry with him for a long time, mostly because it hurt Caleb to see Dean so broken after Sam left. But over the last few months, Caleb had begun to realize Sam deserved a chance, and now he just wished Sam would call someone let them know he was okay, and that he was happy, because even though John had been cruel to Sam, his family had not written him off. Caleb would never admit it out loud, but he missed the kid.

"Caleb Winchester?" A voice behind him said. It had been a long time since he had used that ID. He hadn't had to since Sam and Dean had been kids, and he had pretended to be John's brother but he didn't want to risk that information would be withheld because he wasn't family.

"Yes?" Caleb replied.

"I am assuming you are John Winchester's next of kin?"

"Yes sir, I am his brother. His son is on his way from Dallas, should be here in the next 12 hours or so. How is he?"

"It was touch and go for a while, but I think we have a stabilized, as long as infection doesn't set in, he should pull through."

"What's the damage?"

"Couple of broken ribs, a bruised kidney, and of course the blood loss from the wounds on his chest and stomach. You say this was a bear attack?"

"Yes, we were hiking, guess we got to close to its territory." The doctor quirked his eyebrow and Caleb. He didn't believe the story, but he was going to drop it, he wanted to get these two thugs out of his ER as soon as possible. Sometimes reading minds was awesome.

"Alright." The doctor said. "He is still out, we are keeping him sedated for today, we will wake him up tomorrow. He is in room 304 if you want to go see him."

"Thanks Doc." Caleb smirked and started walking towards the room when he felt it. Ever since he was a kid he had always had a connection to the Winchester boys. Sometimes he could feel them across states, especially when they were hurt. As they got older the connection was getting less powerful, but it was there nonetheless. This time he felt a familiar presence that he had not felt in over a year. He felt Sam. And it wasn't the sullen angry feeling he had gotten off the teen over the past few years, it was different, and it sent chills down Caleb's spine because the connection was strong enough for him to know this wasn't him feeling Sam in Stanford, Sam was close, in the hospital. He walked past John Winchester's room and made his way up to the next floor and stopped outside room 612. Something in Caleb told him not to open the door, and to walk back to John, but he couldn't do it. Something was wrong. He pushed open then door, and lying in the hospital bed was Sam Winchester. Sam was asleep; at least Caleb hoped Sam was asleep and not unconscious. His face was bruised with stitches up near his hairline and he had a cast on his right arm, which was draped over neat bandaged wrapped tightly around his chest. Caleb walked around the bed and stood by the youngest member of his makeshift family, and felt the anger run through his body. Deuce would be here tomorrow, he was already upset about his dad, but now his little brother was lying in the hospital bed above his Dad, and nobody knew what happened.

"You aren't allowed in here." Caleb jumped at the nurse who had walked into Sam's room.

"What happened to him?" Caleb asked.

"I can't tell you that, family only. You need to leave." The nurse replied. Caleb stared hard at her and took out his wallet once again taking the ID that said Winchester out of his wallet. He hadn't used the ID in years, now he had used it twice in one day.

"He is my nephew, I ask again, what the hell happened?" The nurse gave the ID back to Caleb and her face softened.

"He was jumped apparently, he didn't give any details. He will be okay, the only reason he is still here is because he broke 4 of his ribs and one punctured his lung, he will be out of here in the next couple days. How did you find out he was here? The hospital doesn't have any emergency contact information."

"I was in the hospital on another matter, just happened to walk by and see him, honestly I haven't talked to him in over a year."

"Well, I am glad someone is here, kid looks so lost, he doesn't deserve to be alone." The nurse walked away, and Caleb rubbed a hand over his face. Why hadn't Sam called someone? Did he really think none of them cared? He heard coughing and turned back towards Sam.

"Sam? You in there?" Sam's glazed eyes opened and looked up and Caleb, he looked confused at first, and then panicked trying to sit up, and groaning when he couldn't. He looked once again like that innocent five year old that asked too many questions, and believed in dragons. "Calm yourself Runt. It's okay." Sam suddenly turned back into that angry teenager, which at first shocked Caleb but then he remembered, Sam was just nineteen, his soul was just older.

"Caleb? What are you doing here?" Caleb thought about that, should he tell Sam his dad was hurt? Obviously he thought for too long. "Who was it? Who got hurt?" Caleb sighed.

"Your Dad did. He is in recovery he is going to be fine. He pissed off a ghost with a sharp razor." Sam nodded.

"Why are you here?"

"My psychic hotline went off, and lead me to this room. What the hell happened?"

"Is Dean here?"

"He is on his way, he was on a rugaru hunt with Josh and Gideon. Now don't dodge the question, what happened?" Sam looked away from Caleb.

"I got jumped." Caleb quirked an eyebrow at the kid.

"Jumped? You got jumped 3 hours away from Stanford, by yourself? You still suck at lying Sammy. So I asked again, what the hell were you doing here?" Sam peered defiantly up at Caleb.

"I do not have to report back to you, go check on your Sergeant, and stay the fuck out of my head." Sam felt the familiar presence in his mind, and after being away from it from so long he was having a difficult time keeping his blocks up thanks to the pain medication being pumped into his body. Caleb found exactly what he was looking for.

"You were hunting? What the hell Sam, you know better then to hunt alone! So much for the clean break."

"Leave it alone, Caleb."

"So you refuse to stay and hunt with us, but you will go out alone? You are an idiot kid."

"I didn't go looking for it! It's…. complicated." Sam winced, he was in a lot of pain, and he didn't want to have this conversation. "People were dying, people I knew were dying, and I couldn't let that happen. I walked away, but I can't just turn off everything that has always been drilled into my head." Caleb sighed at that.

"I know you can't." Sam looked surprised. "Look kid, I'm not mad at you, I just don't like this. Why didn't you call us? We would have handled it." Sam looked at Caleb and shook his head. "What is it Sam? Don't make me go through your thoughts again, it can't be good for your concussion."

"I called my Dad four times Caleb. He never answered. I left him messages and he still didn't answer. So I just did what I had to do."

"We were out in the middle of the woods Runt. Your dad probably didn't get the messages."

"I called four time over four weeks Caleb. I get it now alright, I don't exist."

"Sam, you dad is just being stubborn, you know him."

"Stop defending him Caleb. I know where your loyalties lie, don't rub it in my face. I don't want to fight about this I am too tired. Just go." Caleb looked down at the kid in front of him, a kid that had fought tooth and nail for his freedom and left when John Winchester, the knight of the Brotherhood had given a direct order not to. Sam had always been strong willed, but the kid in front of him just looked defeated.

"You could have called me, or Jim, or Bobby. You could have called any of us." Sam turned his head as a tear slid down his face, and Caleb heard what he was thinking_ "You could have called me too"_

"Go check on Dad Caleb, and when Dean gets here, don't tell him I am here, he doesn't need to know."

"Jesus Sam, I can't promise that. I can't keep Deuce in the dark when you are hurt."

"I have been hurt worse then this, I will be fine. He doesn't need to know."

"He is your protector Sam, not the other way around. You can't keep Athewm from defending Prince Samuel." Sam turned back towards Caleb.

"Prince Samuel is gone. The dragons have been relieved of duty. So I bestow on you a new task Belac. Do your job, and keep Athewm safe." Caleb walked towards the door of Sam's room.

"I will check on you tomorrow Runt, get some sleep." Caleb walked from the room and stopped at the nurse's station giving Sam's nurse his number to keep in his file. They would call if Sam was released. Caleb wasn't going to let that kid disappear, not yet. He walked down to John Winchester's room and sat in the chair beside him, falling into a restless sleep. Caleb awoke a few hours later to the sound of his phone ringing, it was irritating.

"Reaves." He said gruffly into the phone.

"I'll be there in 30 minutes." Dean said on the other end of the phone. Caleb sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Your dad is still asleep, but he is going to be fine. I will meet you in the parking lot there is something else I need to talk to you about."

"What are you talking about Damien?"

"Just get here Deuce, don't worry everything is gonna be alright. Have I ever lied to you?" Dena sighed.

"Guess not. Alright see you soon."

"See you in a while." 20 minutes later Dean pulled the Impala into the parking lot, and walked up to Caleb.

"Make it quick Damien, I want to go see my dad."

"Look I promised I wouldn't say anything, but you need to know. Your dad probably isn't gonna wake up for awhile, so that probably shouldn't be the first stop you make."

"What the hell are you talking about? What else could be more important then seeing fucking dad right now? He is my family, and he is hurt!"

"Sam is more important." Dean stared hard at Caleb.

"Sam? What about him?"

"He is upstairs, he is awake, but he is hurt pretty bad."

"What? Why is Sammy here?"

"I don't know, I felt his connection last night, so I went and saw him."

"What did he say?"

"He told me not to tell you he was here." Dean tried to contain his anger but it was getting the best of him.

"Why didn't he call someone?" Caleb hesitated, deciding he was going to leave out the fact that Sam had called his Dad, and no one had picked up.

"What room is he in?"

"612, you want me to come with you?" Dean wasn't going to ask him to come, but he figured if he offered he might accept. Dean nodded and they went to Sam's room. When they got there, Sam was dressed in blue jeans and a plaid button up that remained open exposing his chest. He was standing but it was taking everything in him not to collapse to the floor. He looked up at Dean as he walked in, and glared at Caleb who followed.

"Dean what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? Jesus Sammy, look at you. Shouldn't you be at Stanford?"

"It's July, schools out for summer." Sam sat back on the bed and winced, as the pressure on his chest couldn't be relieved.

"What happened Sam?" Sam looked back at Caleb, and Caleb gave him a hard stare. The patented John Winchester "Tell the fucking truth" stare.

"Took a hunt, and it didn't end the way I had hoped."

"You were fucking hunting! Alone? You could have gotten yourself killed! Why didn't you call me?" Sam looked down at the floor, he wasn't about to tell Dean he had called his dad.

"Thought I could handle it on my own, guess I am not as smart as you gave me credit for."

"Sam…" Caleb started to say, but Sam gave him a look and he shut his mouth. Sam didn't want Dean to know he had called their dad.

"Apparently you are a fucking idiot."

"Yeah I guess I am." Dean seemed to deflate at that.

"Sammy, I'm sorry, I just can't believe you are here. You are supposed to be safe."

"I am safe, usually, this was just something I needed to do, now I gotta go."

"Sam you aren't going anywhere." Dean suddenly thought of something he hadn't before. "Sammy, where are you staying if you aren't in school?" Sam squirmed, he didn't like where this was going.

"I got a place." He was lying of course, he was drifting hotel to hotel just like when he was a kid, except this time he was alone. Dean didn't look like he believed him.

"You need to heal Sammy, why don't we go back to the farm or something? Or you know, we could always impose on Damien and crash at his place." Sam wanted to say yes, more then anything, but he knew couldn't.

"Dean. I can't."

"Just think about it okay? I am gonna go see Dad, Damien, stay with him." Dean left the room and Sam let out a breath.

"Why did you tell him Caleb?"

"Cause you are his brother, and he needed to know." Caleb replied and then sat on the bed next to Sam. "You don't have a place to stay do you?"

"Sure I do. I am living Winchester style for the summer." Sam smirked and Caleb let out a laugh.

"Back to basic survival?"

"Something like that. How's dad?"

"He is still sleeping, I am sure he will be up ordering me around before I know it." Sam smiled but it didn't meet his eyes. "I can take you to see him if you want." Sam looked at Caleb and sighed.

"I can't do that Caleb." Caleb smiled.

"I already know that Runt."

"How is everyone else?"

"Everyone's fine Sammy. You know fighting the good fight, all that."

"What about Dean?"

"What about Dean? You just saw him, he is fine." Sam looked teary eyed.

"Is he really?" Caleb sighed.

"He is adjusting Sam. It is hard for him to find somewhere else to put that protective nature. But he is figuring it out." Sam nodded.

"I know how pissed you were at me when I left." Caleb looked confused, but didn't deny it. "I know how protective you are of my brother, and I know I hurt him when I left. I didn't mean to hurt him, but I know I did. So thanks for holding him together for me."

"It is in the job description Runt, but there was only one person he needed, and it wasn't me."

"Well it can't be me."

"So what? You don't have family anymore? You don't have a brother anymore?" Sam looked at Caleb with heat.

"He will always be my brother. Always. And you guys will always be my family, but I can't live in two worlds."

"That sounds like John Winchester talking." Sam smiled.

"I may have hated the things he did to us when we were kids, but my dad was right about one thing, I can't go back."

"This sounds like a goodbye, kiddo."

"Maybe it is."

"If it is, I shouldn't be the person you are saying goodbye to."

"I can't say goodbye to Dean, it makes it too real."

"What? Being gone for a year hasn't made it real?" Sam stood up and steadied himself.

"If I say goodbye to Dean, it means I may never see him again."

"Do you plan on seeing him again Sammy?"

"I want to, but I can't deny him anything, and I do not want him to ask me to stay." Caleb sighed and stood up. He knew where the kid was coming from; he just wished it didn't make so much sense.

"Do you need a ride somewhere?" Sam looked shocked, that Caleb wasn't going to stop him.

"No, my friend Jessica is on her way to pick me up." Caleb nodded and pulled Sam into a loose hug, trying not to hurt the boy.

"I am gonna go see your Dad. Call me if you need anything." Caleb played it off like he was talking about the hospital, but he knew Sam wouldn't be in the room when he came back, he just wanted the kid to know he still had someone to call if he ever needed help. As he turned and walked away he stopped. "Sammy, just so you know, I know you would do anything for your brother, but do not forget he would do anything for you too. He would have let you go. Oh, and no more hunt alone kid." Caleb walked towards the elevator and didn't look back. As he entered John Winchester's room he saw Dean standing to the side as the doctor ran some tests.

"He is starting to respond, he should be awake soon." Dean said. Caleb nodded and took John's phone out of the mans jacket pocket. Dean frowned. "What are you doing Damien?"

"Checking your dads messages. If a hunter called him for back up I want to be able to pass it on to somebody else. Your dad needs a few weeks off." The answered seemed to satisfy Dean. Caleb quickly went through John's voicemail and deleted Sam's messages. Dean didn't need to know, he need someone in his family he could still trust, but Caleb would deal with John later.

"Can you boys just take a step out for a minute while we take some blood and run a few tests?" The doctor asked. They stepped out into the hallway and Dean looked at Caleb knowingly

"Is he gone?" Dean asked.

"His friend was on his way to pick him up." Dean nodded.

"You think we will ever see Prince Samuel again Belac?" Caleb sighed and looked at his friend.

"I think the dragons have been relieved of duty for now Athewm, but if the time arises where they are needed again, all Prince Samuel has to do is call for his great defenders, and they will be there." Dean smiled.

"I feel like the dragons just lost a great battle."

"I don't know Deuce, maybe this is what happens when the dragons have done their job right, maybe Prince Samuel will be alright."

"Yeah, I guess I just figured he would always need the dragons."

"He will always be your brother Deuce."

"I know Damien." They turned and saw Mackland Ames walking towards them.

"How is he doing boys?" Mac asked.

"He is gonna be fine Dad, he is just gonna need some rest." Mackland nodded then looked in the direction of the elevators and frowned. Dean turned and saw the profile of his brother and a pretty blonde girl.

"Was that Samuel?" Mac sounded almost hopeful. Dean looked at Caleb and then at Mackland.

"No Mac it wasn't." Dean said. He looked back at Caleb and smiled. "Sammy is a long way from this world, and he is there to stay." And with that sentence, a little bit of Dean's soul healed.


End file.
